Milestone 2: Develop a Business Plan
By nature or by necessity in your life as a military spouse, you have become adept at having a building an airtight plan. It’s time to flex those organizational skills to set your new business up for success. Before you embark on your entrepreneurial or self-employment journey, outline your business needs. Asking yourself the right questions to thoroughly examine the business environment and identify how your business brand fits into it will help you decide how to build, manage, and market your business. Core questions to start with include honestly examining your own strengths and weaknesses, market conditions, and your potential competition. As you know, every good plan layout out supplementals to your own capabilities—and always contains contingencies!
Create a business plan
You are busy, and anxious to start your own business, but taking the time to create a business plan will give you a critical tool for clients, investors, staff, and any other parties you will need to succeed and grow. Begin the entrepreneurial or self-employment process by creating a plan that will evolve throughout the life of your business. Use resources to get you started, help you assess your needs, and connect you with a knowledgeable mentor or coach as you continue on your path toward entrepreneurship.
Resources For
Developing a Business Plan
Small Business Administration
Plan your Business
Market research helps you find customers for your business. Competitive analysis helps you make your business unique. Combine them to find a competitive advantage for your small business.
Google for Startups
Everything you need to move your business forward.
SCORE
Simple Steps for Growing your Business
Needs assessment for your business.
All done with this step?
Assess and identify business needs
A business needs assessment provides a solid foundation for making sound decisions and helps you develop and strategically grow your business. This process helps you identify areas in which you may need to shore up your skills and helps you determine how to establish the support you will need to run your business effectively, deliver on its mission, and remain profitable.
Resources For
EVALUATING BUSINESS NEEDS
SCORE
Business Needs Assessment
Once you complete this you’ll be able to identify areas for growth and improvement, develop an action plan, and find resources to help you take your business to the next level.
Small Business Administration
Online Learning Center
The SBA offers a variety of online courses to help you start and run your business.
Primer
Free mobile app that offers quick, easy-to-understand lessons to help business owners grow skills and reach their goals.
Key Finding: Essential Tasks for Launching a Business
The essential tasks associated with launching a business require a diverse set of skills, ranging from technology to marketing to human resources.
| Building a website or social media presence | Learning the skills and technology needed to conduct the business | Purchasing materials or inventory | Obtaining certifications or permits | Creating a business plan | Getting computers, printers, or Internet access | Investing in paid advertising or marketing | Contracting business services (e.g., legal or accounting) | Finding office or storage space | Hiring employees or contractors | None of these | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skills | 50 | 37 | 35 | 31 | 24 | 23 | 15 | 14 | 7 | 4 | 6 |
All done with this step?
Assess technology needs and find solutions
You may be new to budgeting, or you may feel you are no stranger to a budget. Like some military spouses, you might take the lead on the household finances. Your acumen with budgets will be useful as you try to project your business’ short- and long-term needs. Technology is a big, and often expensive, piece of start-up and scalable growth. Take your time to look for the most cost-effective and strategic ways to get the technology you need to operate your business. Before you purchase or invest in learning new programming or equipment, conduct a technology assessment— a process that will have you examine your workflow; evaluate your current technology; explore alternative solutions; and determine the resources needed to learn, use, or purchase new technology.
Resources For
DETERMINING TECHNOLOGY NEEDS
Small Business Administration
Small Business Technology Coalition
Helps your small businesses leverage technology as a core driver of growth and differentiation with digital education and training tools to help you launch, grow, manage, and win your business.
SCORE
Business Technology Training
Online technology workshops you can view at any time. How-To Guides complement what you learn in our Tech Made Simple workshops, combining technology knowledge with free expert business advice.
Google for Small Business
Explore free tools and resources to get online, connect with customers, and build digital skills.
Grow with Google
Free training, tools, and resources to help you grow your skills, career, or business.
All done with this step?
Assess professional development needs
Owning your own business or being self-employed requires you to fulfill multiple roles, such as establishing your business or self-employment enterprise, keeping the business running or obtaining consistent work, and making your ventures profitable. You’ll be able to operate efficiently if you determine where you need to enhance your knowledge or improve your skills to best serve your customers or clients.
Resources For
Professional Development
SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Online Learning Center
Courses of Study include Competitive Advantage, Legal Requirements for Small Businesses, How to Prepare a Loan Package.
LinkedIn Learning
Over 15,000 courses from industry experts with a Free LinkedIn Premium account from SECO.
Primer
Free mobile app that offers quick, easy-to-understand lessons to help business owners grow skills and reach their goals.
Other resource
Nonprofitready.org
Access to free sector-specific learning so that non-profit professionals have the knowledge and resources to create transformative impact in their own communities.
Other
Lift Learn
Provides financial and business management tips and tools for small business.
KEY FINDINGS: MOST-NEEDED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AREAS
Raising seed funding, navigating license or permit transfer processes, and finding resources to get a new business started were identified as key opportunities for professional development among current or potential entrepreneurs.
| Building a client base | Investing money, time, and effort with no guaranteed payoff | Learning new and unfamiliar skills (e.g., financial, legal, marketing) | Knowing how to self-motivate and manage your time well | Finding the information or resources to help get started | Learning to cope with additional pressure compared to previous jobs | Navigating the process of license or permit transfer | Finding other self-employed military spouses who can be mentors | Raising seed funding | None of these | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Experienced | 70 | 52 | 39 | 33 | 27 | 15 | 15 | 7 | 5 | 2 |
| Interested | 55 | 63 | 33 | 12 | 35 | 6 | 27 | 7 | 40 | 2 |
All done with this step?
Calculate, raise, or obtain funding
To fund your new business or enterprise you will need start-up capital or “seed funding.” You’ve already projected your fiscal needs in your business plan. You’ll need to get your business established, stabilize the business in its early stages, and counteract any projected or unforeseen losses as the business is getting off the ground. Even if you have budgeted some start-up costs from your personal savings, you don’t have to rely solely on it to carry you. Look into start-up funding in various forms and decide what will work best for you.
Resources For
Locating Capital
SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Calculate your Startup Costs
Calculate the startup costs for your small business so you can request funding, attract investors, and estimate when you’ll turn a profit.
Google for Startups
Best Practices to Raise Funds
Raising funds for your startup is crucial to success. Use these best practices to fund your start-up.
SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Loans
The agency doesn’t lend money directly to small business owners. Instead, it sets guidelines for loans made by its partnering lenders, community development organizations, and micro-lending institutions.
SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Lender Match
Lender Match is a free online tool that connects small businesses with SBA-approved CDFIs and small lenders. Do not use if looking for Disaster loans.
(My startup capital) came from our personal bank account. I was lucky to have a very understanding husband who trusted that I wasn’t going to make us bankrupt. I have friends that have gone other ways – they have done things like Kickstarter or GoFundMe.
Key Findings
Most initial investments were below $1000, and the overwhelming majority relied on personal savings followed distantly by credit card debt to start their businesses.
Those with higher initial investments (> $1,000) were slightly more likely to be small business owners (with and without employees).
| More than $10,000 | $5,001 to $10,000 | $1,001 to $5,000 | $501 to $1,000 | Up to $500 | Zero | Not sure/Not applicable | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Military Spouses | 8 | 9 | 23 | 21 | 26 | 11 | 1 |
